


Double Vision

by dumbdpaus



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Gen, Good Friend Alya Césaire, Good Friend Nino Lahiffe, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Lila salt, adrien gets to be mr bug!!!!, because she's 16 and while she's a shitty teenager she's still a teenager, but also freaks out a little over mari, but also some lila redemption, love these dumb beans, some violence but nothing graphic, they're kids and they're trying their best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:42:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22996402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dumbdpaus/pseuds/dumbdpaus
Summary: In a moment that lasted a hundred years, Marinette watched as Alya and Lila’s eyes widened and she would swear that she could see Smasher’s arm reflected in their pupils, swinging at her from the side.“Marinette, look out!” She was never sure who said that, but it didn’t matter. It was too late. Smasher’s palm slammed into her side, and she felt something crunch inside her. The world exploded in a haze of pain as she crashed into a desk, and then there was nothing.---In which Marinette demonstrates once again that she is a fundamentally good person, Lila confronts the reality that she is not, and Adrien and Marinette confront each other. Meanwhile, Alya is a good friend, and Nino just wants everyone to be safe.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Lila Rossi
Comments: 52
Kudos: 1194





	Double Vision

**Author's Note:**

> hey y'all! this is my first ml fic, and no, lila is not irredeemably evil in it. i mean, i agree she sucks, but she's still, like, a human teenager. i'm not excusing anything, and no one forgives her for her shit, but she's not pure evil. she learns a lesson.
> 
> still! i hope you all like it anyway :D

She probably should’ve been more focused on how to get away and transform, but all Marinette could think in the moment was how unoriginal this akuma was.

He called himself Smasher, and he had huge hands and feet that easily stomped through the classroom roof. In one hand, he was holding what looked to be the remains of a toy truck and swinging it like a bat. His face, blown up to impossible sizes though it was, still clearly held the baby fat of a toddler. She didn’t need any special deductive skills to figure out that someone had broken his truck and Hawkmoth akumatized him through his tantrum.

How terribly pedestrian.

Still, once she was transformed, she’d have to see if she could figure out who broke his toy; they were bound to be in danger.

Through the cloud of dust from the collapsed roof, she could see Alya, Nino, and Adrien splayed around her, all having successfully dodged the debris. Most of her other classmates were closer to the still-standing door, already moving to leave. The only person she didn’t see was...

“ _Ms. Lila!_ ”

That was Smasher, voice low and coarse, like choking on gravel, a strange effect coming out of a baby face. Marinette had a sinking feeling they’d just found the toy-smasher.

“You said when I was bigger, people would listen! _Well I’m a lot bigger than you now!_ Maybe now they’ll believe _me_ and not _you_!”

There, in the middle of the remains of the class, stood Lila, trembling and tear-streaked, faced with an angry akuma specifically after her, no Ladybug or Chat Noir in sight.

(Where was that kitty? Now would be a great time for him to show up.)

“Lila!” Alya gasped from beside her. “Oh no, she’s got nowhere to run.”

“We have to help!” Nino said.

Marinette bit her lip and met Adrien’s eyes as he frowned. Okay, yeah, neither of them liked Lila, but they didn’t want to watch her get pulverized, and she still didn’t see any sign of Chat. She gave him a nod, but the concern didn’t ease off his face. “Marinette—” he said, reaching out to grab her arm.

She moved out of his way; she had a bad feeling he was going to suggest getting Lila himself, because he was ridiculously nice and heroic like that, even though he wasn’t a superhero. “Okay, you three, make a run for it,” she said, gathering her legs underneath her. “I’ll be right behind you after I grab Lila.”

“Marinette, no, we’re not letting you go after the akuma alone!” Nino and Alya echoed his denial and Adrien again moved to snag her arm, but she was already running to where Lila stood, paralyzed, in front of Smasher.

“I’ll be right back,” she said, but all three of them were already behind her, supporting her, at her back, like always. Putting themselves in danger, even though none of them had any miraculouses at the moment.

Sometimes, she wished her friends were less heroic.

“I’m sorry, kid!” Lila yelled as they approached, huddling in on herself. “It was an accident.”

Smasher raised a meaty fist and swung it at where Lila still stood, paralyzed. Marinette grabbed her jacket and pulled her back with a firm tug, Lila landing on top of her, safe as the ground shook under Smasher’s hand.

“Marinette? Lila?” Nino called into the billowing cloud of dust.

“Are you okay?” Alya said, as Adrien said, “Where are you?”

Marinette coughed and waved a hand. “Over here! We’re okay! Coming to you.”

“An _accident_?” Smasher reared back to strike again. “Quit lying! You meanie!”

Marinette tugged at her jacket again and pulled her to her feet, where she wobbled. “Lila, get up! We have to go!” Lila’s knees shook, but she still didn’t move. “Come on, we don’t have time for this.” She picked Lila up and threw her into Alya’s waiting arms.

In a moment that lasted a hundred years, Marinette watched as Alya and Lila’s eyes widened and she would swear that she could see Smasher’s arm reflected in their pupils, swinging at her from the side. 

“Marinette, look out!” She was never sure who said that, but it didn’t matter. It was too late. Smasher’s palm slammed into her side, and she felt something crunch inside her. The world exploded in a haze of pain as she crashed into a desk, and then there was nothing.

* * *

“—inette! Marinette, please!”

Her head felt like someone had driven a spike into it, and her whole body somehow hurt even worse. Her brain was fuzzy, wading through molasses. Her Papa’s molasses cookies were the best, too. Maybe she could take some to school today?

She scrunched up her face and opened a bleary eye. Everything still hurt, so maybe not school today. “Five m’re min’t’s, Maman,” she mumbled at the blurry shape above her, eyelid slipping closed again.

“Hey, no no no no no, you gotta stay awake for me Marinette. C’mon girl, keep your eyes open.”

Oh, it was Alya talking to her. Huh. Why was Alya in her room? She was so tired and in so much pain. Why couldn’t she just sleep?

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Marinette, but you have to wake up.”

That was a different voice, but still so familiar she reached out for him blindly. “Kitty… you’re h’re.”

She could hear him suck in a breath through his teeth as he whispered “ _My lady?_ ” His warm hand squeezed her own, but something was wrong. Shouldn’t there be leather there? Why did he take off his glove?

“Marinette,” Chat said. His voice wavered and Marinette frowned. Her kitty shouldn’t sound like that. Had someone hurt him? “Listen, it’s not—I mean, it’s Adrien. We’re really worried about you—you took a bad hit and we… we really need you to wake up. We need you to be okay.”

Adrien? Why would Chat say he was Adrien? Marinette opened both eyes to see her kitty for herself, blinking the haze away, and sure enough, there was Adrien Agreste, red-faced and tear-stained. Her kitty was the same person as her crush? That was… good, wasn’t it? Or bad? She didn’t really know.

Somewhere, distantly, Marinette knew she should be freaking out about this, but she didn’t have the bandwidth. Freakout could come after the akuma.

Oh. Shit. The akuma. Lila. The destruction in the classroom. _She still had a job to do._

Alya let out a shuddering gasp above her. “Oh, thank god,” she said, and suddenly Marinette’s field of vision was filled with Alya’s face. “How are you feeling? Are you—well, obviously you’re not _okay_ but—”

“Alya,” Nino said, “give her some space.” Alya backed off sheepishly.

Marinette hoisted herself up on to her elbows, groaning as her torso burned with the movement.

“Woah, hey!” Nino said. “I did not mean that you needed to get up. We just need to wait this out until Ladybug and Chat Noir show up and then the cure will make you all better. Just—just sit tight.”

Marinette ignored him and levered herself fully into a sitting position. For the first time, she spotted Lila, huddled at the other end of the supply closet they were hiding in, still trembling in fear. For the first time in a long time, Marinette couldn’t bring herself to feel anything at all towards the other girl, positive or negative. She didn’t have the energy to care about Lila right now.

Alya made for the door, ostensibly to check if Ladybug and Chat Noir had arrived, but Nino cut her off and the two argued. Marinette made to stand while they were distracted, but the fire lancing down her side stopped her short and she slumped back down.

Adrien appeared at her side as her arms started to tremble again, holding her up. “Are you,” he whispered into her ear, “who I think you are?”

She nodded, then regretted it as the room spun around her. 

“Holy shit. This is—this is bad.”

“We have to get out of here, minou.”

“No,” he said. “You are going to stay right here. I’ll go on my own.”

“Can’t leave you alone with him,” she mumbled.

“I can’t just let you go out there like this! I’ll take Tikki and be right back. It’s a simple enough akuma; I can handle it on my own.”

Tikki poked her head out of Marinette’s purse to where only she and Adrien could see. “Marinette, Ch—Adrien’s right. You’re in no condition, and Adrien knows what he’s doing.”

“Yeah,” he said, with a cheeky grin that was all Chat. How had she missed this? How had her concussed brain figured out what her Ladybug brain had dismissed out of hand?

When she could think past the pain, she was going to freak out about this. Right now, though, she just had to hand off her earrings and trust that her kitty could do both their jobs without her.

Luckily, there was no one she’d trust more.

* * *

She slipped in and out of consciousness after that and missed Adrien actually leaving—how he’d gotten past Nino’s mothering, she’d never know. Over the next ten minutes of Chat—as Mr. Bug—fighting Smasher, Alya and Nino—and, once, Lila—took turns tapping her awake.

When the ladybugs passed over her. she breathed a sigh of relief as the pain receded and faded out and she could think again.

( _Adrien was Chat. Chat was Adrien. Holy shit holy shit holy shit. Chadrien? Adrat? How was this even—how could she have missed—_ )

And _there_ was the freak out. Right on schedule.

“Marinette! Girl, are you good? Did the cure not work?”

Marinette sat back up with a start and clonked heads with Alya, who was leaning over her. “Ahh, s-sorry! I’m—I’m fine, now.” She rubbed her smarting forehead. “Though I may ha-have just given myself another concussion.” She laughed a little at herself.

Alya said nothing at that, didn’t even acknowledge her joke, and instead threw her arms around Marinette and squeezed her.

“Careful,” she said, grinning. “You might break my ribs again.”

“Don’t even joke about that, girl!” Alya said into her hair. “I’ve never been so scared in my life. Don’t—don’t do that ever again.”

Another pair of arms wrapped around her—Nino, shuddering and cold. “Agreed. Mari, that was—that was the worst akuma attack ever. You—you almost died.”

“Why?”

The word was so small she almost missed it. Marinette managed to extract herself from her friends embrace long enough to meet Lila’s eyes. The other girl had clearly been crying, but the Cure had fixed the damage to her outfit and hair. That was the thing about akuma attacks: it was so easy to pretend that they had just never happened. Even though people were hurt, were scared and victimized, turned into weapons against their will, there was no proof except what Paris’s citizens remembered and recorded for themselves.

“Why would you save me? You _hate_ me. But you almost died. For me.”

“I don’t _hate_ you.”

Lila gave her a _look_.

“Fine, I don’t like you. Like, at all. But that doesn’t mean I want you to die!”

For once, Alya and Nino didn’t interject. Usually, they’d insert themselves into the conversation, try to calm it down, tell Marinette she should give Lila a chance. This time, though, they seemed content to let things play out. Alya in particular had a wariness in her eyes as she faced Lila, keeping one arm in front of Marinette. Like she was protecting her. Nino’s hands were clenched at his side, white-knuckled, as he stared at the wall.

What had happened while she was unconscious?

“But—but I’ve been nothing but mean to you! I got you expelled! You can’t just—just—just turn around and be nice to me! That isn’t how this works!”

Marinette scrunched up her nose in confusion. “Are you… mad at me? For saving you?”

“She better not be,” Nino muttered under his breath. Alya snorted.

“I—no! I just… I don’t understand. _Why_?”

“It… it was the right thing to do?” Marinette shrugged. She never really been asked _why_ she’d helped someone before. It had never needed explaining. “If you’re still confused, maybe you need to figure it out for yourself.”

“Yeah, and _maybe_ you should start with apologizing to my girl here.” Alya’s glare at that moment could melt steel.

“I—I—I’m sorry, Marinette. I don’t—I don’t know what else to say except I’m sorry.”

“Ah, thank you?”

“Do you—” Lila swallowed. “Do you forgive me?”

Marinette shook her head. “Maybe later. Not right now, though.”

Lila opened her mouth as though to protest, but one glance at Nino and Alya’s faces and she snapped it shut. “Right. Of… course.” She huddled in on herself. 

“While we’re on the subject of apologies,” Alya said, “I’m sorry, too. I should’ve believed you. I’m… I’m the worst best friend ever. I should’ve known that you wouldn’t make that kind of stuff up just to get to Adrien.”

“What about me?” Adrien said, popping his head through the newly opened door.

“Nothing!” Marinette said, a little too quickly. She was not ready to face Adrichat. Chatrien. She had only avoided a total freak out by focusing on the other people in the room. Adrien being one of those other people _was not helping_.

( _Did this change how she felt? No, no if anything it intensified it. Now he was two of the boys she cared most about, mashed into one. How was it possible to care so much about one single person? She’d been spreading it to two people before and it was the only way she could stay sane._ )

( _But did it change how he felt about her? About Ladybug? He’d been trying to move on, just like her. Maybe he’d succeeded far more than she ever had._ )

“Uh, oh-kay?” He stepped all the way in. “But you’re okay?”

“Y-yeah! Totally fine.” She stood up and twisted around a few times to show off her renewed mobility. If her face was red, well, it had been a trying day. Didn’t have to mean anything about Adrien. Not at all.

Alya cleared her throat as she and Nino stood as well. “We were all just apologizing to Marinette for not believing her when she told us about little miss pants-on-fire over here.”

“Oh, yeah,” Nino said. “I’m really sorry about that, too, Mari. You’ve been my friend forever, I should have known better.”

Adrien sighed. “In that case, I should apologize too. I didn’t realize how much damage she could do until it was almost too late. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more to help.”

“Adrien, you have nothing to apologize for. You’re the one who got me unexpelled! If anything, I owe you.” Adrien frowned, but she didn’t give him a chance to argue. “And, Alya, Nino, I appreciate your apologies, but you still had my back when it counted. I never worried that I’d lose you for real. So please, all of you: don’t be so hard on yourselves.” Marinette smiled at them. “I don’t like it when people are mean to my friends.”

The door clicked closed, and Marinette turned to see that Lila had left the room. Probably for the best.

“Hey, Alya, Nino. Could Marinette and I get a moment alone?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Alya said, waggling her eyebrows at Marinette before dragging Nino out of the room by his wrist.

The door swung closed behind them, leaving Marinette alone with Adrien. With _Chat_. That was going to take some getting used to.

“So…”

“So.”

“Do you… do you remember—”

“—that you’re Chat Noir? Yeah, kitty, I remember.” Marinette met his eyes for a second before staring at the ground. “You. You beat Smasher, though?”

“Y-Yeah. Lila broke his toy truck but then lied to his mom that he’d broken it himself.”

“Explains why he was. After her.”

“Yep. Yeah, it does.”

Marinette kept her eyes trained on the floor. Her face felt like it was burning. How had she suddenly gotten more awkward around him? Knowing he was Chat should have smoothed it out.

“Listen, Mari—you have to promise not to do that. Ever again.”

Marinette frowned and finally lifted her eyes from the floor. “Not to do what?”

“Take that kind of hit!” Adrien’s stare was intense, boring into her own. “You—you’re Ladybug. We can’t afford to have you out of commission. We were lucky it was easy enough for me to handle alone.”

Anger, sudden and fierce, boiled up into her chest. Chat, of all people, was going to lecture her on taking hits? “Oh, like you’re one to talk!” she yelled, awkwardness forgotten. “Remind me again: how many times have I had to watch you die? How many hits have you jumped in front of for me?”

“Yeah, well I’m not Ladybug!”

“No, you’re Chat Noir! You’re my partner! I’m not interested in doing any of this without you, but you keep making me, over and over again. And the one time—the _one time_ I get hurt protecting someone, you’re all ‘don’t ever do it again!’ and ‘you’re too important!’ I’m not _okay_ with this.”

Adrien looked shell-shocked, like she’d slapped him. “I—I don’t—I didn’t—”

“So yeah, maybe now you know a little bit—just a little bit, mind you—of how I feel every time. And maybe—just maybe—you’ll be a little more careful with my favorite kitty.” Her voice softened at the end, and she lifted a hand to wipe a trailing tear from his cheek. “And if you do, then it’s all worth it. This whole mess will be worth it.”

Adrien’s face flamed bright red, hot against her fingers. Realizing what she’d done, she dropped her hand like it was burned.

“That is—I mean, uh, you’re really i-important to me and I really want you to be safe and—”

Adrien laughed at that, a slight tinge of hysteria in his voice. “Mari, you never cease to amaze me.” He pulled her forward and enveloped her in a hug, dropping her earrings in her hand in the way.

“You’re important to me, too,” he whispered.

“Then maybe we should both be more careful. Watch out for each other, huh?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I like the sound of that.”

**Author's Note:**

> come hang out at my new ml blog, bugladyblog.tumblr.com


End file.
